A Colourful Wedding

Out of my experience as a wedding photographer, one of the things I have learned to be very important in order to assure nice images, is the production of the event as a whole. What you are all looking for here on the forum is indeed the inspiration to create an event to never forget! Obviously, one of the important elements of this production is the ‘palette’ of colors which gives a particular character to your wedding. For weddings at the Caribbean, being mostly beach weddings, brides have the tendency to choose vivid colors like turquoise, but a less evident choice can create a beautiful world of its own. To help you choose the (combination of) colors, there is a theory about color. Stating that every color has the ability to create certain emotions in the viewer. Here are some very basic explanations:

Red is a powerful color that represents strength, passion and vitality. It can create feelings of energy and excitement. The darker tones are associated with wealth, while rose is seen as romantic. Orange plays on the same kinds of emotions as red, but is much less aggressive. It is an upbeat and cheerful color that is known to generate a higher level of mental activity in the viewer and feelings of friendship. Yellow is an inarguably exuberant color. It instantly conjures thoughts of sunshine and summer, leaving the viewer with feelings of refreshment, energy, joy and honesty. In combination it’s dynamic and a rather dominant color. Green creates a sense of safety, relaxation in peoples' minds. It represents nature, health, well being and harmony; it’s fresh and keeps the balance between cold and warm colors. The darker tones are associated with tradition, prosperity. The green-blue on the other hand is fresh, youthful and of course tropical. Blue will more often than not evoke a general sense of calm and peacefulness. Navy blue is a true classic and provides a sense of stability, trust, power and strength. Lighter tones bring peace, relaxation and give a sense of integrity. Purple is another color that can have extremely soothing effects. It represents sophistication and spirituality, and can be perfect to create a sense of wonder, as brighter purples have an almost magical quality. The intense combination of blue-violet is a royal color, associated with courage, authority and nobility. Classically it is combined with gold, but in combination with lemon yellow it’s much more vivid. Just as the lighter, fuchsia tones is one of the most energetic colors. It suggests a young, active state of mind. While not technically part of the color wheel, White can still be used to evoke an emotional response. It is widely regarded as a representation of purity, and can promote feelings of trust and is therefore the traditional wedding color. Black represents depth and power. Good usage of black can give a professional feel and bring about feelings of sophistication and steadiness. And is again a traditional fashion color.

You can make different combinations of colors, the first one being complimentary, which means the colors are opposite in the circle (e.g. green red or blue orange).

Or complementary divided, combining one color with the tone just next to its complementary color (e.g. orange blue-green and orange blue-violet). An analogue combination is the combination of a color with the tones just next to it and is considered as especially harmonious (e.g. blue green blue blue violet).

The color accents can go from some subtle details in flowers to the dresses of bridesmaids and –men, accessories (fans, ceremony booklets) and (table) decoration.

You might not be aware of it but lightning also plays a major role in creating an ambience in a certain location.

You can chose to keep it non sophisticated with the evergreens of the wedding colors:

Delicate white and beige:Aly + Nick

Create one main color accent:

Red-orange: Maud + Jonathan

Red-violet: Lindsey + Eric

Or make a combination:

Red and Green: Isis + Eugenio

Beige, blue and dark blue: Lindsay + Josh

A combination of soft pastel colors which gives a very romantic atmosphere: Karla + Gianni

This last example I like especially because the couple pops out with the very stylish absence of color, in contrast with the finely used main color, blue-green: Amy + Kacy